“I’m here to urge the world community to speed up their assistance to the Pakistani people,” Mr Ban said as he visited the disaster zone for the first time.

But in an interview with The Daily Telegraph at his home in Lahore, Mr Sharif, the former Pakistan prime minister, said it was time for his country to take responsibility for the welfare of its people and to meet the costs of rebuilding swathes of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa from its own budget.

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He has proposed a series of cuts in government spending to raise £2 billion to rebuild homes and infrastructure. “If the government agrees, we have about $3 billion within our own resources,” he said.

He was speaking amid growing fears in Pakistan that the international community would not give as much aid for flood relief as it did following the 2005 earthquake. Although the number of lives lost in the current floods is far fewer — 80,000 died in the earthquake, and 1,600 in the flood so far — the destruction and displacement of families now is greater.

Roads and bridges have been swept away and countless villages inundated. Agriculture has been hit hard with crops and stocks of grain destroyed. Six million people still need food, shelter, water and medicine, according to the UN, which has warned that the death toll could rise amid fears that disease could spread with survivors sleeping in makeshift tents.

Islamabad has said it needs billions of dollars to rebuild. The US has pledged $100 million, while Britain has earmarked £31 million. The UN has an appeal for just under £300 million — significantly less than the $5.5 billion given in response to the 2005 earthquake appeal. Mr Sharif said suspicion that aid would not reach the victims was deterring both international organisations and Pakistanis from giving more.

Mr Sharif said if the fundraising effort was run by an independent commission and all party leaders worked together, Pakistan could generate enough money. “If we don’t follow this route, I can tell you there will be no rehabilitation of flood victims because people won’t trust it,” he said.